Improvement in refining fat-oils



H. T. YARYAN. Refining Pat Oils.

No. 205,516. Patented Buly 2, E828.

' itnessaes mnueniur 69 Q HOMER T. YARYAN, 0F RICHMOND, INDIANA.

IMPROVEMENT IN REFINING FAT-OILS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 205,516, dated July 2,1878; application filed February 23, 1878. i

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HOMER T. YARYAN, of Richmond, Wayne county, Indiana, have discovered a new and useful method of removing petroleum solvent from vegetable and other substances withwhich it has been used as a solvent for extracting their oils, of which the {ollowing is a full, clear, and exact descrip- In removing the oils by solution and percolation from flax-seed and cotton-seed meal and other substances, a hydrocarbon,usually naph tha, is necessarily used as a solvent to obtain the, largest product of oil. After the oil is thus extracted there remains in the meal a quantity of the solvent, which it has heretofore been impossible to separate therefrom, and which contaminates the meal to' an extent rendering it valucless as food for animals or other purposes.

The heavier constituents of the solvent cannot be entirely volatilized and removed by the "commercial uses, but in the recovery of the solvent, which is drivenoft' as vapor to a condenser, from which it'can be again drawn for .use, and, also, in extracting a larger percentage of oil from the meal, and improving its quality as food to that extent.

At a'certain stage of the operation of extracting the oil from the meal by the use of a solvent, I inject dry superheated steam centrally into and through the mass, and thus volatilize the solvent, and recover it, together with the oil which remains in the meal after percolation. .11 use a suitable apparatus by which the steam, after being dried and superheated to,

a degree below that which would scorch the meal, is forced through the meal, vaporizing I the solvent, and compelling it to pass out through an aperture in the receptacle, and at the same time drying the meal to such an extent that when discharged the remaining humidity is quickly'dispelled.

To enable others to practice my new process, I will describe an apparatus which I have successfully used for the purpose, one of the prominent features of which is a furnace provided with suitable retorts or vessels. interposed between a steam-boiler and the percolator or tank containing the meal and the solvthe top, closed by a closely-fitting removable cover, B. G is a pipe connecting the percolator with the condenser 0, in which the vaporized solvent is recovered for use. D has a removable nozzle, 01, by which the superheated steam is conveyed to a central point in the mass of meal contained in the percolator A. I

E is a pipe connecting the percolator A with a draining-tank, B; This pipehas suitable connections by which it may be used also for the admission of superheated steam during the progress of the process, as hereinafter described, into the percolator A. T is also a draining-tank, for the reception of oil and naphtha percolated from tank A; anda pump, Z, is provided, by which the contents of the draining-tanks T and B may be elevated into I. a tank, F. a v

H is a pipe extending from tank F downward through a steam-tight drum, K, being coiled therein, and dividing, after its exit below, into two branches, the branch L passing downward to the steam-coil evaporator VJ and the branch M passing upward to a condensing-worm, O.

P is a tank for the final reception of the separated oil, where it may be heated and subjected to the action of a strong air-blast'forced' through it in divided jets, in order to remove the final tracesof the solvent.

In using this vapparatus, the process is as follows: The tank A being filled with the meal The pipe or other substance to be treated, the naphtha or other hydrocarbon solvent is poured in until the meal is thoroughly saturated, and is so "allowed to remain until the operation of solu- -tion'is complete. For linseed meal I allow it through the" vent as into the tank It. When theliq'uid ceases to flow, a nozzle, (1, is inserted in the side of the tank A through a screwthreaded aperture at y, and into the center of the mass of meal therein, and connected at its outer extremity with the superheated-steam pipe D. The vent G is then also opened, and a jet of dry superheated steam allowed to pass in from the furnace S.

, The'action of the steam is both-upward and downward through the mass of meal, vaporizing and driving the solvent upward until the mass of meal becomes sufliciently heated, when the vaporized solvent is driven off through the vent C and pipe 0 to the'condenser O and recovered. That portion of the solvent below the level of the nozzle 01 is driven downward, being vaporized and recondensed, and so percolating downward through the meal until the steam has driven the solvent and remaining traces of oil downward through the vent as into the receiving-tank B. As soon as the va-' por of water shows at the upper vent C, said vent is closed, and when afterward it shows at m below, that vent is also closed. The pipe D is then disconnected, the nozzle (1 removed, and its aperture closed by a suitable stopper. The pipe D is then connected with the vent w, and, the upper vent 0 being again opened, the superheated steam is allowed to pass upward through the entire mass of meal, vaporizing and driving off the last remaining traces of the solvent, and purifyingthe meal of all taint therefrom. The pipes are then disconnected, and the contents of the tank or percolator A removed to the drying-room, and are ready for the ordinary uses.

g The extracted oil, combined with the solvent,

is containedjin thetanks R and T. From these it is pumped, for convenience of treatment, into a tank, F, whence it is permitted to ".flow downward in a graduated stream through -a pipe, H, coiled within a steam-tight drum, K, where, in its passage through the coil N, it

- is heated by steam in the ordinary or raw state, admitted directly into the tank surrounding the coil from the generating-boiler R at theusual pressuresay. of sixty pounds per square inch, or about 300. In the pets f sage through the coil the solvent is vaporized to such adegree that when the oil and solvent reach the dividing-point of the exit-pipe below, the liquid oil passes downward by the branch L, and the solvent passes upward in a vaporized state through the branch M to the condenser O.

The oil from the branch L flows into a trough arranged above a steam-coil, J, also supplied with raw steam from the generating-boiler R, whence it drips downward over the exterior surfaces of the steam-pipes J into a final receiving-tank, P, below. In this portion of the process all but a faint trace of the solvent is removed from the oil, which may be entirely removed by heating the oil in the tank P by means of a steam-jacket, and forcing a current of air in divided jets into and through the body of the oil, ,or by forcing into and through the oil a similarly-divided jet or blast of heated air.

The process and apparatus herein described may be used with great advantage in connection with the spent meal resulting from the common mode of extracting oils by presses. I obtain a large and profitable percentage of oil from the ordinary oil-cake of commerce by first treating it with a hydrocarbon solvent, and then driving off and recovering the .re-- maining solvent and oil by this means; and in addition to the advantage accruing from my process by reason of the increased amount of oil obtained from a given quantity of material," the resulting oil is of better quality, because free from the crushed woody fiber which forms a sediment in linseed or cotton-seed oils obtained in the ordinary manner by expression.

I do' not confine myself to the particular form of apparatus herein described, as it is apparent that many other forms of apparatus may be used in practicing my process, and that herein described may be simplified.

I claim as new and desire to secure by Let ters Patent- I The herein-described process, which consists in treating'the residuum of vegetable ,sub-' stances from which the oil has been extracted by the use of a hydrocarbon solventwith su perheated steam, for the purpose of removing and recovering the solvent, substantially as, specified.

Witness my hand this 16th day of February, 1878. r

HOMER T. YARYAN. Attest: w 1

L. M. HosEA, 4 H. P. K. PEcK. 

